Tubular frame rail



Feb. 27, 1962 w. H. NEELY 3,022,522

TUBULAR FRAME RAIL Filed June 8, 1959 0. v INVENTOR.

wluum' H NEELY BY a /r- United States Patent 3,022,522 TUBULAR FRAME RAIL William H. Neely, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Hoover Ball & Bearing Co., Saline, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Filed June 8, 1959, Ser. No. 818,684 2 Claims. (Cl. -353.7)

This invention relates ingeneral to furniture and automobile seat constructions and is concerned with seat constructions having spring structures mounted on open frames and padded and covered by seat covers. Open frames with tubular frame rails of rectangular cross section are particularly well suited for this type of seat constructions, as tubular frame rails of rectangular cross section substantially facilitate attachment of springs, spring structures and other elements and provide sufiicient tensile and tor ional resistance for all load requirements, though open frames of this latter type do not readily permit direct attachment of cover members by presently used hogring means.

The primary object of this invention is the provision of an open frame having tubular frame rails of rectangular cross section constructed and shaped to permit rapid and proper direct attachment of hogrings thereto for direct attachment of cover and other means to the frame rails by commonly used hogrings or similar devices.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a tubular open frame having frame rails of tubular rectangular cross section constructed to include pairs of cooperating openings arranged in adjoimng walls of the tubular rails in symmetrical relation with respect to each other near the vertex of the right angle between said adjoining walls for direct clamping of hogrings to the rail members between each pair of openings in adjoining walls of the rail member.

A further object of theinvention is the provision of a tubular open frame having frame rails of tubular rectangular cross section constructed in predetermined areas of adjoining walls with inwardly extended cut-out portions to form cooperating pairs of openings in adjoining walls and separate each opening of a pair from the other opening by a narrow strip of material extending in the area of the vertex of the angle between the adjoining walis to permit clamping of hogrings to the said narrow strip of material between the openings of each pair.

Still hnother object of the invention is the provision of a tubular open frame of the type referred to above, wherein the pairs of cooperating openings in the frame rails of rectangular cross section are located and dimensioned to form a narrow strip of material between the openings and permit clamping of common hogrings to the narrow strip by commonly used hogring clamping means.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention has other marked superiorities which clearly distinguish it from presently known structures and arrangements of this type. These improvements or characteristics, ern bodying certain novel features of construction and design, are clearly set forth in the appended claims and preferred embodiment of the invention hereinafter shown with reference to the accompanying drawings forming put of the specification.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view, partly in elevation, of a spring seat construction embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view through a frame rail constructed in accordance with the invention.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are fragmentary frame sections of the spring seat construction shown in FIG. 1, disclosing clamping of a hogring to the frame section by a corn monly used tool; thus 3&22522 Patented Feb. 27, 1962 FIG. 3 shows the hogring held by a clamping tool prior to being clamped around the strip of material between two cooperating openings, and

FIG. 4 shows the hogring clamped into proper working position by the clamping tool.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of a frame rail standing on one of its edges to show the relative positions of a pair of openings in two adjoining walls with respect to the vertex of the angle connecting the walls.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary plan view similar to FIG. 5 with a modified shape of openings.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 7.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show a die arrangement suitablefor forming a tubular frame rail of rectangular cross section with pairs of "cooperating openings arranged in adjacent Walls of the frame rails; thus FIG. 9 is a plan view of the die arrangement, and

FIG. 10 is a sectional view on line 10-10 of FIG. 9.

Referring more particularly to the exemplified form of the invention shown in the drawings, reference numeral 2 denotes an upholstered wire spring construction embodying a wire spring seat structure 3 mounted on an open seat frame 4 with tubular frame rails 5 having rectangular cross section. The wire spring seat structure 3 is padded by padding 6 and covered by a cover 7 tensionally stretched over padding 6 of wire spring seat structure 3 and attached to frame 4 by hogrings 8 directly securing cover 7 to the frame.

Tubular frame rails 5, which have rectangular cross section, each include in top wall 9 elongated slot and tongue arrangements 10 of the type disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 797,111 filed March 4, 1959. Each of the slot and tongue arrangements 16 is formed by slitting top wall 9 on a U-shaped line and bending the thus formed tongue members 11 into the frame rail to provide an elongated slot 12 and an elongated lateral support by tongue 11 extended from one edge of slot 12 into the tubular frame rail at a substantially right angle to top wall 9.

Each slot and tongue arrangement 16 mounts one of the V-shaped supporting arms 15 of the respective springs 16 of wire spring seat structure 3, which springs 16 are sinuously corrugated and include alternately oppositely extended loops 17 successively connected by cross members 18. Wire springs 16 each embody an end cross member 19 formed with an angularly ofiset open loop 20 between its opposite ends, and this open loop 20 is inserted into the respective frame rail 5 through the respective slot and tongue arrangement 10 in top wall 9 of the frame rail and rigidly held in proper position by an indentation 21 in top Wall 9 near its angle edge 22 with adjacent wall 22', indentation 21 being extended into the open loop 20 of end cross member 19.

Tubular frame rails 5 furthermore include in adjoining walls 23 and 24 pairs of slots 26, 27 positioned in said walls in symmetrical relation with respect to each other, that is, each pair of slots has one slot 26 arranged in wall 23 and the other slot 27 arranged in wall 24. Slots 26 and 27 are symmetrically positioned to vertex 28 of the right angle between adjoining Walls 23 and 24 and provide tubular frame rail 5 with narrow strips 29 midway between slots 26, 27, the strips 29 being dimen sioned to be readily gripped by hogrings 8 piercingly engaged with edge portion 30 of cover 7. Closing of hogrings 8 is readily effected by common hogring clamping tool 31, the jaws 32 of which extend in clamping operations freely through slots 26, 27 into frame rail 5.

Shape and form of slots 26, 27 may be varied according to requirements, see FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, 8 disclosing semi-curved slots 33 and parallelogram-like slots 34.

Slots of the desired size and shape may readilycbe cut in walls 23 and 24 as shown in FIGS 9 and 10, in which die arrangement 35 supportsin ba'se 36 frame rail and holds same by cover plate 37; and in which coordinated punches 38 cut adjoining walls23, 24 of frame rail 5 to provide same with cooperating pairs of slots 26, 27 for the purpose described.

While there has been shown a particular embodiment of the invention, I contemplate the use, as'obvious to those skilled in the art, of any desired shape of frame rails of angular cross section, including non-tubular angular frame rails having in adjoining walls pairs of cooperating openings-arranged in substantially symmetrical relation to the vertex of the angle between the adjoining walls, and Various otherchanges and modifications Without departing from the invention, therefore, it is intended in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. I

Having thus described my-invention; what I claim is: 1. In a seat construction which includes a supporting frame, a spring structure mounted on said frame, and 1 cover means stretched over said spring structure, a'hollow frame rail of rectangular shape in cross section forming a part of said supporting frame, said rail having pairs of openings formed therein by inwardly bent cutouts arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the vertex means attached to the edge of said cover means and extended at least partially about a narrow strip of said rail located between the openings in each of said'pairs of openings for attaching said cover means to said rail.

2. In a vehicle seat construction, a supporting frame including a tubular frame rail of rectangular cross section having'four walls and four corners and including in one wall near one corner of said rail inwardly bent cutout means adapted to provide for the attachment of wire springs to the frame rail, a pair of'angularly related adjoining walls in said rail having the corner formed by the intersection thereof arranged diagonally opposite said one corner, pairs of cooperating inwardly bent cutout portions in said adjoining walls providing pairs of openings in said adjoining walls spaced apart by a narrow strip of said rail including the corner thereof between said jwalls, said latter openings being dimensioned to permit attachment of hogrings to said narrow strip by common hogring clamping tools having clamping jaws extending into said openings during hogring clamping operations. i

' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,371,407 Neely -2 Mar. 13, 1945 2,695,658 =Flint Nov. 30, 1954 2,783,827 Neely 2 Mar. 5, 1957 2,826,245 Sellner -2 Mar. 11, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 672,752 Germany Mar. 9, 1939 

